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“Though the loose standard of proof of preponderance of probability adopted by CCI so far has been repeatedly questioned in the appeals against penalty orders of CCI, two recentdecisions of closure of alleged bid rigging in railway supplies by acceptance of objective justifications by parties isa suresign of a maturing and evolving jurisprudence of the…

On 22 September, 2014, the Director General, Competition Commission of India (“CCI”), conducted its first-ever ‘dawn-raid’ at the premises of M/s JCB India Ltd., an Indian subsidiary of a UK based construction company (“JCB”). According to news reports, the raid was conducted due to JCB’s alleged non cooperation in the process of investigation by the…

Of late, media is abuzz about the ongoing clash between the retail physical markets and online markets (e-tailers). A recent news item in The Financial Express of 16th October, 2014 “Online and offline retailers are on war path at present with the latter accusing e-tailers of resorting to predatory practices to grab a larger share of…

In the wake of globalisation, India has adopted revolutionary measures of opening up of its economy, removing of controls and to resort to liberalisation. It is, therefore, imperative that in order to cope up with the reforms and to introduce the concept of “Free markets” in the Indian economy, the Indian markets should be geared…

On December 19 2011 the Delhi High Court issued its decision in Jindal Steel & Power Ltd v Union of India. Concurrently, it disposed of a miscellaneous application filed by the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) in response to a writ petition filed by Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), dealing with a dispute…

The Department of Telecommunications is seeking government exemption for the telecommunications sector from the ambit of the Competition Act 2002(Act). The move was triggered after the Competition Commission raised concerns over plans to allow automatic clearance of certain mergers and acquisitions for mobile phone companies. In December 2011 the Telecommunications Commission cleared a proposal by…

Recently, after the competition watchdog-Competition Commission of India (CCI) raised concerns over the telecom ministry’s plans to allow mergers and acquisitions (M&As) if the combined market share of merged mobile phone companies was up to 35% but less than 60%, the Telecom department has reportedly approached the Union Cabinet seeking exemption under the purview of…

In the wake of economic liberalization and widespread economic reforms introduced in India since 1991 and in its attempt to march from a “Command and Control” regime to a regime based on free market principles, India replaced its archaic Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Act, 1969 with a modern competition law, in sync with modern and…

Recently, there was news of Bharatmatrimony.com filing a complaint against Google India with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against Google’s alleged abuse of dominant position in its practices related to AdWords. In the same context, a remark was made at a seminar in Delhi on future of online markets that “media and particularly the…

Both the merger control provisions of the Competition Act, 2002, notified by the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) with relaxation to the thresholds and the draft merger regulations put out by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) are industry-friendly and allay some of the concerns of industry. Yet, worries remain. The first concern was the…